Happy Birthday Nancy!

I have known Nancy longer than any other friend. Here we are 1. In New York last summer and 2. in Nursery School. I will not be so rude as to reveal to the Big Wide World what year that picture was taken. Lets just say it was back when school pictures were still shot in black and white! Without getting overly sentimental, I must thank this fabulous chick for years of friendship, for “getting” me even at my most insane, and for being such an ingrained part of my history that nothing ever needs explaining between us. Add to this that she is an amazingly talented painter and all-around artist and a damn good cook.

This barely scratches the surface of my shared history with the gal, but here goes:

Walking to elementary school together when we both lived on Perry St. in NYC
Dancing to the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” ‘til we dropped
Playing baroque games in my dollhouse that featured many melodramatic and/or dying characters (complete with funerals)
Drawing for hours while listening to Top 40 songs on WABC (“Cousin Brucie!”)
Wondering aloud why all the songs were about love
Watching “Dark Shadows” after school and being fascinated/scared by Barnabas Collins
Watching “Lost in Space”(favorite character: The Robot) and “Star Trek” (favorite character: Spock)
Deciding who was our favorite Beatle/Rolling Stone/Monkee (too fickle to list)
Our parents’ respective divorces
Nancy’s move to Mexico City in fourth grade
Lots of letter writing on cute mod stationery
Hanging out in hot, humid New York when Nancy would come back for the summers
Blue cream soda from the deli
Walking for blocks and blocks in the city
The funny Irish doormen in Nancy’s dad’s building (“The doorman sees it all”)
Shopping for clothes and records in air-conditioned stores
Long talks about books, art, movies, music, and boys
More long talks (and lots of angst) about boys
Going to clubs when underage (no problem in 1970’s NYC)
Bad Sangria
Good White Russians
Lots of dancing
New Years Eve parties - some good, some bad…
Summers in Vermont and Massachusetts during college
A haunted mill we lived in one summer
Oddball roommates: “Vaseline dog”
Ball lightning coming through our window
Landlords who made stained-glass windows
A landlord who just got out of the State Penitentiary
My move to California (and living with Nancy’s sister, Claire!)
Nancy’s move back to New York
Our weddings, three years apart (we both lucked out on this one, after years of angst)
Both of us losing our Dads
Yearly visits
Hours of phone calls
Good Cosmos
Better lasagna (thanks to Nancy)
More long talks about politics, kids, art, books, movies, music and boys
E-mail, e-mail, e-mail…..

Happy Birthday and Lots of Love! xoxo